Trinity College protests ‘criminal damage’ as building spray-painted by ‘Palestinian activists’
The facade of Trinity College was spray-painted on Thursday night (5 December) in an action executed by “a group of Palestine activists”.
The defacement was the latest attempt to advertise to the wider community that the University of Cambridge college - the wealthiest of Oxbridge college, with assets worth £1.3billion in 2018 - continues to invest in arms companies which deliver arms, munitions and services to the current regime in Israel.
The unnamed group of activists has named five such companies, all engaged in military activities in Gaza, where more than 45,000 Palestinians have lost their lives since the October 7 2023 Hamas attacks in southern Israel resulted in 1,200 deaths. Trinity College has had - and allegedly continues to have - investments in Elbit Systems, which produces 85 per cent of the armed quadcopter drones which have been deployed in civilian areas of Gaza.
Trinity has also invested £2.5m in Caterpillar, the US-based heavy equipment company involved in the destruction of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. Japan's Toyota Corp - which sells vehicles to the Israeli military and the Israeli Ministry of Defence - has banked £3.6m from Trinity, which has also invested £3m in General Electric, the manufacturer of engines, mechanical systems and components regularly used by the Israeli military in Gaza. Rolls-Royce, which is involved in the production of the F-35 stealth combat aircraft used over Gaza, has also received funds, as has Barclays Bank, which holds over £1bn in shares in companies arming the Israeli military.
The action is part of a renewed focus on Trinity, one of a number of British charities which have been referred to the United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, this week. The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), the UK-based rights group which made the referral as part of a submission to a report by the UN’s special rapporteur to the UN Human Rights Council on “how the private sector has contributed to establishing and maintaining Israel’s presence” in the occupied territories.
In a statement, the Cambridge group said: “Trinity is trying to hide away from its responsibilities. We, who have not forgotten that Trinity's hands are red with the blood of Palestinians and we, who will never forget this reality, are making Trinity's involvement clear once more, for the world to see and for the college to know in its stones that the stain of genocide is unwashable. There can be no normalcy during genocide and particularly not for those aiding and abetting its unfolding.”
A Trinity College spokesperson said: “Trinity College strongly condemns this act of vandalism and has informed the police.
“While the college respects the right to peaceful demonstration, it draws the line at criminal damage.
“As with any other case of criminal damage, Trinity College will do everything it can to assist the police in their investigation.”
